The Name of the Game
by PookieS
Summary: oneshot Kate and Jack go on a trek in search of Sawyer and Locke and play the game Truth.It's all fun and games until they start asking personal question, then they get some answers they may not be ready for. set after catch22. lots of angst.


Disclaimer: I don't own lost or the characters!

I was reading The Truth About Forever and got inspired to write a oneshot using the truth game from this book. Anyway, basically, Kate and Jack go off in search of Sawyer and Locke and start playing this game. But they start to ask each other some pretty hard questions that lead to some explanations. Lots of angst.

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The Name of the Game:

She hadn't thought it was possible to spend three hours with someone and only have them speak three sentences to you. But he proved her wrong. They had come out here to try to find Sawyer and Locke, who had run off on their own secret journey. During that time all Jack had said to her was "that way", "watch out for that branch" and "why in the world did they come all the way out here?" which made her wonder why he'd asked her to come at all.

She glanced over at him. He was looking strait ahead, completely focused on where he was going.

"So..." she said, trying to act casual "why didn't Juliet come with you?"

He looked over at her in surprise, his face as blank and unreadable as usual. This had become the face he wore around her ever since they escaped, ever since he found out about her and Sawyer.

He shrugged. "I figured it wouldn't be a good idea to have the only two physicians on the island running around the jungle."

_Of course _she thought _leave it to Jack to look at the big picture._

He glanced up. "We should probably stop and set up camp for the night, it's starting ti get dark." he said, dropping his pack to the ground.

_Oh joy,_ she thought _a whole night of being ignored. Not that I don't deserve it. _she added, feeling a pang in her chest.

She dropped her pack next to his and within a few minutes they had a good sized fire going.

"So, what did you and Sawyer do when you went looking for that boar?" he asked, giving her a small smile from across the fire.

She noticed that he didn't ask what they'd done when they'd escaped and felt yet another pang of guilt.

"We played I Never" she said, rolling her eyes "his idea"

Jack laughed "Leave it to Sawyer to come up with a drinking game."

She smiled "Why, want to play?"

"No, I'm not really the drinking type. Well, actually, I am the drinking type, which is why I tend to avoid it." he answered.

"We don't have to play this, we could play..." she thought for a minute "truth"

"Truth?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

"It's a game I used to play when I was a kid. The only rule is that you have to tell the truth no matter what, and if you don't want to answer a question you can pass, but then I win."

"Okay..." he said, nodding slowly "I'll play."

She blinked, surprised. The man she'd spent the last three hors not talking to was now agreeing to play a game called Truth, of all things.

"But..." he added "I will warn you, if you start asking me personal questions then I have every right to do the same."

She hesitated, but then said "Deal", wondering what she was getting herself into.

Jack squinted at her from across the fire.

"So... what's your favorite animal?"

"A horse." she answered automatically, smiling. "Yours?"

"I'm more of a dog person" he answered "What's your favorite color?"

"Sky blue" she said, looking at him expectantly.

"Navy"

"Where did you grow up?"

She smiled faintly. "In the country with dirt roads and pickup trucks. You?"

"I was pretty much raised in a hospital." he shrugged "It's all I've ever known."

That didn't surprise her, he'd seemed like the type to have a knack with people early on.

"What's your favorite food?" he asked, bringing her mind back to the game.

"Chocolate, which is also my major guilty pleasure." she said, smiling.

"Mine is french fries, which you already know considering you stole them from my plate."

She smirked and then remembering her conversation with Juliet asked "When is you birthday?"

"August 12th, yours?"

"June 5th"

Jack paused for a second, as if debating whether or not to ask something, then finally looked up at her. She could tell by his expression that this was going to be a serious question.

"Why did you come back for me Kate?"

Her breath caught in her throat, but she couldn't bring herself to look away from him.

"Because... because with everything that happened out here you were the only one who knew what to do and how to calm everyone down." she closed her eyes, then looked over at him, staring him straight in the eye. "I couldn't just abandon you and let them kill you"

For the first time in weeks she could see a flicker of emotion in his eyes. That gave her the courage to ask her question.

"Why did you tell me to not come back?" she asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Because they would have killed you if you came back." he said automatically.

She just stared at him, letting his words sink in. She was right. She should never have let Juliet get to her. Jack would have never let Ben die because he was upset. If he was going to do something like that it would be to protect her. And Sawyer, she corrected herself. Not just her, not anymore.

She knew what she had to ask next. It went beyond her just being curious and she knew that if she asked this he would be revealing a part of himself to her.

"Why did you get a divorce?"

She held her breath, feeling like she'd just opened Pandora's box. He could ask her anything now, anything about her past, which was the one thing she didn't want him to know about.

His head shot up and he gave her a shocked look.

"Juliet" she said softly

He just stared at her, his jaw clenched, and she was sure that she had crossed the line. But then he said softly, barely audibly "She cheated on me... but it was my fault."

She looked up, trying to catch his eye, but he refused to look at her.

"When I married her I thought I was in love with her... but I was just focusing on solving her problems. By doing that I was burying mine... and I thought I was happy until I knew I wasn't."

He winced. "I stopped paying attention to her... it was like we lived together but didn't know each other." he shook his head and looked up "I don't blame her for leaving me."

He looked her straight in the eye, and she could see the pain that he'd been hiding there. He broke her gaze and stared off in to space. She knew he was thinking of something to ask her, something that would really reveal something about her.

He turned back to her and she mentally braced herself, waiting for him to ask her what she did, who she killed, and why she did it.

"Who was he really?"

"What?" she asked, confused.

"The man you said you killed, who you said you loved, what happened?"

She closed her eyes, wishing he'd just asked her about Wayne. This was so much harder.

"His name was Tommy... we grew up together. Every since we were kids we planned that we'd get married... when I was on the run I went to him for help, then the cops came... I took his keys and he jumped in the car with me... I kept yelling at him to get out but he wouldn't... so I just took off. "

She closed her eyes and felt a tear slip down her cheek. She wanted to look at him but couldn't bring herself to.

"The cops were waiting for me and they started shooting when we passed them..." her voice broke "one of the cops shot him in the forehead..." she let out a choked sob "he's dead because of me"

"Kate..."

"Don't..." she said, hiding her face from him. She wiped her eyes and looked at him, her jaw clenched. "My turn" she said softly

He nodded and waited, his face showing his concern.

"What is the one thing that hurt you more than anything else?"

He stared at her, a thousand emotions running across his face, half of them she couldn't decipher. Then he squared his jaw and his face went completely blank.

"Pass"

She flinched like she'd been struck. She didn't know what she'd expected him to say, maybe something about Sarah, but definitely not this. They had a silent understanding that they would answer each others questions. There could only be one explanation, it had something to do with her. _Juliet was right, I broke his heart._ she thought, fighting off a wave of tears. But she had already known that, she just hadn't wanted to believe it.

"You win" Jack said softly from across the fire.

Another tear slid down her cheek. She won their game, but had lost absolutely everything else.

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alright, I re uploaded this and (hopefully!) fixed all the mistakes. Sorry, that's what I get for trying to type at eight 'o clock at night.

With all the Jate angst on the show I had to write an angst fic like this...

Please review if you get the chance, I would really appreciate it!


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